STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A former chef at a popular Staten Island eatery alleges his clothes were turned into chop suey and he was shown a nauseating photo of a person with their fingers lopped off -- all because he requested a W-2 form.

"This is what happens to people with a big mouth," Alfred Lolange contends his boss at Z-Two restaurant replied when he asked for his earnings statement.

Lolange, 60, further alleges in a lawsuit that someone at the Charleston restaurant cut up his suit, and he was harassed and threatened for repeatedly requesting his W-2 form.

Lolange was ultimately sacked.

"My client's a law-abiding citizen who wanted to pay his taxes," said Lolange's lawyer, Anthony G. Mango. "To be treated like this for asking for a W-2 isn't right."

The action, recently filed in Brooklyn state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Lolange is a Brooklyn resident.

Robert J. Fileccia, the restaurant's lawyer, fired back on Thursday.

"In response to these fictitious allegations, I will be filing a lawsuit against the plaintiff for defamation, per se, and extortion, on behalf of Z-Two diner," he said. "This a disturbing trend, that New York City's top restaurants are being targeted by more and more baseless lawsuits motivated by greed. The plaintiff is apparently using the media to shake down the restaurant."

Court papers said Lolange was hired as an executive chef by Z-Two in February of last year. The restaurant, which opened in the summer of 2011, is on Veterans Road West across from Home Depot and Target.

Court papers said Lolange's salary was $2,000 per week.

"He's trained in France and owned a restaurant in Manhattan," Mango said.

On completing his first week, Lolange said he was given $1,500 in cash. He was told the remaining $500 had been deducted for "taxes," said court documents.

Lolange continued to be paid $1,500 in cash every week, said Mango, a partner in the Manhattan firm of Mango & Iacoviello.

In January of this year, Lolange asked Steve Osman, one of the restaurant's owners, for his W-2 statement so his accountant could prepare his income tax returns, said court documents.

Osman assured him it was coming, but Lolange alleges he never received the form despite repeated requests.

At one point, Osman showed the chef a gruesome photo on his phone of a person with his fingers chopped off, and made the remark about people with big mouths, court papers said.

Osman also accused Lolange on other occasions of being a troublemaker and told him he "should learn to be quiet," allege court filings.

Undeterred, Lolange continued to ask for his W-2 form.

Matters came to a head on Easter Sunday, March 31.

Lolange reported to work in a suit jacket and slacks, which he hung up after changing into his chef's whites.

When he went to retrieve his clothes at the end of his shift, his jacket and pants had been cut up, said court papers.

"It looks like someone took a knife to the suit jacket and stabbed it a dozen times," said Mango. "It was clearly an intentional act."

Lolange confronted Osman, who, according to Mango replied, "I told you what happens when people talk too much."

"It could lead you to believe he did it or had someone do it on his behalf," Mango said.

Lolange was then fired.

Mango said he tried to resolve the matter with the restaurant's lawyer. But his requests for a W-2 form and the withheld money -- which Lolange maintains was never paid toward taxes -- were rebuffed, he said.